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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Sempé

I have an assignment to draw Sempe-like figures running. I wish they were all running dogs instead... Last October I visited the new Sempe exposition the day it opened at Hotel de Ville... The drawings are displayed in a casual, accessible manner...

Making it easy to get up close and personal with each drawing... Jean-Jacques Sempé could be considered the iconic artist of Paris.

His prolific, witty drawings capture that Parisien j'ai ne sait quoi.

It's nice to see Sempe's daily sketchbooks.

Plus his final drawings readied for the printer...

If you need to draw a bicycle there's no better artist to reference.

With Sempe's mastery of the quotidien urban life, be it Paris or New York, no wonder The New Yorker has made him a frequent cover artist...

Crowd scenes are right up Sempe's allee...

As are cats.

Perhaps rather than dogs?

When you step outside into Paris' streets, they come alive with Sempe images.L'exposition Sempeis on at Hotel de Ville until 11 February 2012, if you can't make it

21 comments:

I just love your blog because you show and talk about things that I didn't know. Love when you educate us on art things as well as other things and the mix of words and pictures pretty much covers all styles of learning. Please keep it up!

What a nice post on the Sempé exhibit! I've been wanting to catch this. I think I may tomorrow while my husband and the kids try out skating at the Hôtel de Ville. My knees aren't up to it... And I would much rather check out this illustrator's work I have admired for a long, long time.

When we visited Paris in the autumn we walked by the Hotel de Ville and saw and commented on the nice posters for the Sempé exposition. Unfortunately we didn't know his name and didn't understand what it was about then so we never went to see it.I really enjoy learning new things about Paris through your blog:) Thanks!~ Marie

Oh I probably have seen Sempe's workJust not put the name to it. What I love about blogging is how its opened up a whole world of things one never pays attention to until its blogged about.You got me into blogging. You got me interested in Paris.and many many other fun things...

I love your little running dogs. Tres mignon. And since there's no chance I will be in Paris any time soon, and since those Sempe New Yorker covers don't come fast enough, thank you for my visit to the expostion.

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♥carol gillott♥

l'Ile Saint Louis, Paris, Ile de France, France

Hi I'm Carol Gillott,
My Mom taught me watercolors at 5 and I'm still at it. Now I live by the Seine on l'Ile Saint-Louis. Do consider subscribing to my Paris letters and maps on Etsy and enjoy a taste of Paris in your mailbox every month to savor with a hot chocolate and croissant. I paint Paris dreams.